[Request] MediaTransferProtocol (MTP, PlaysForSure) fplugin

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ivanstojic
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Post by *ivanstojic »

Hi folks!

I've been in e-mail contact with Christian working on getting this plugin to you :-) We're having some issues, but we're working on resolving them. Even though both Christian and me are working on separate versions of the code, we are cooperating and I'm sure that we will be successful.

At the moment, the code can enumerate the MTP devices installed on the user's computer and fetch basic data about those devices. The work is now progressing towards enumerating storage areas inside the device and the files/directories inside each of those storage areas.

The way things are progressing, I'm guessing we should have the first testing version of the plugin done this week.

Is anyone interested in test-driving this plugin?
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gbo
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Post by *gbo »

That's very good news :!:
I recently bought a Creative Zen Vison:M and I will be very interested to test alpha version of this plugin with my Creative.
Gil
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ivanstojic
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Post by *ivanstojic »

Okay, so here's a practical question from me...

Which version of the Windows Media Player do you people have installed?

It looks like those computers running some versions of WMP10 and lower will have to install an additional driver-pack from Microsoft, while those people running WMP11 will be able to use the plugin without any further updates on their computers.
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gbo
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Post by *gbo »

I've installed WMP11 but I use MediaMonkey that I prefer.
Gil
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ctiberg
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Post by *ctiberg »

I'm not using WMP for anything but occupying disk space, so I'm still at WMP9. But point me at the driver pack and I'll be happy to try the plugin :)
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Christian Tiberg
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ctiberg
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Post by *ctiberg »

I tried using WMP and MTP at work, and it seemed to work fine. Good enough for me to not have such qualms about buying an MTP-only player, although I'd still prefer MSC/UMS.

So yes, please give us a plugin for MTP, since I might need it sooner rather than later :)
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Christian Tiberg
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Post by *ctiberg »

And I might even consider using it for getting podcasts downloaded by my PodBreeze client onto a player without having to use Windows Media Player - if that's OK with whoever develops the final plugin, of course :)
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Christian Tiberg
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ghisler(Author)
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Post by *ghisler(Author) »

OK, I managed to get my plugin to work! I'm not using the WMF 11 SDK, but instead the Windows Media Device Manager 10 SDK.

I'm releasing my plugin with full source. If you want to compile it, you will need
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (VS6 couldn't link to the library needed)
- The Windows SDK
- The above Media Device Manager 10 SDK

It works fine with Windows Media Player 10, and _should_ work also with WMP 9 and 11. In fact it even loads on Windows 2000 with a very old media player, but doesn't work beyond the device level. I will try to investigate this later.

Here are the downloads:
Windows Media Device plugin 0.1 beta
The sources

Please note that this is a BETA version! It seems that some WMA files get modified after upload. Your device may also act strangely when accessing it both via the drive letter and the media interface. Files will probably only show up in the "Music" folder.

Please report bugs here in this thread!
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gbo
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Post by *gbo »

THANK YOU for this plugin so far it works fine with my Creative Zen Vison:M 8)

Do you plan to add thumbnails support in wfx in next TC release? it will be very convenient for this plugin and others.
Gil
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ghisler(Author)
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Post by *ghisler(Author) »

Nice to hear that it works for you! I'm considering to add thumbnail support, there are functions for that. But I'm not sure what devices will support that...
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gbo
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Post by *gbo »

ghisler(Author) wrote:I'm considering to add thumbnail support, there are functions for that. But I'm not sure what devices will support that...
Great !

Currently I can see the thumbnails in explorer with my device so I guess it should also work in TC.

I enjoy testing your next release.
Gil
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ctiberg
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Post by *ctiberg »

This doesn't primarily concern TC, but what to do for playlists? Getting the media on there worked for me on my sansa m250, but I can't get playlists if I use this plugin, right?
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Christian Tiberg
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ghisler(Author)
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Post by *ghisler(Author) »

On my device, I can use a playlist created with WinAmp (m3u). Maybe you can do that with your device too. Just check where the Explorer places the playlist, then try placing it there with Total Commander too.
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jj42
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Post by *jj42 »

Wow, that's quick service ;) THANK YOU VERY MUCH! :D

I tried the plugin and it works fine with my Samsung YP-U3. Now I can copy _any_ kind of file on the player, and also copy them back off it again! Also, I can now play files from the player, they are automatically copied to the temp dir and executed from there (which I've read is the only way to do it because of DRM). So that's cool - it behaves almost like an USB stick now!

I noticed I can't move files from one dir to another on the device, or move files from the device with F6 - but that's not too big an issue really, I just copy and delete manually.

Also interesting is that the "data" dir doesn't show up here, but it does when adressing the device without the plugin. I suspect this is maybe a kind of "hidden" directory, or even another kind of filesystem.

Most interesting: MP3s copied on the player via the filesys plugin don't get indexed in the player's (hidden + normally automatic) database. They don't show up in the player's menus, so they can't be played. I haven't found a way yet to force the player to rebuild its index...
The funny thing is, I can now copy OGGs and they _do_ show up in the player's "all songs" menu. Probably that's because OGGs aren't indexed at all.

With the plugin, I now can see the files in the "playlists" folder. But the format is ".pla" - very small binary files. I tried putting m3u or pls files there, but they aren't reckognized. So on this player, to get playlists I need to build them in Winamp (no OGGs) or the Samsung Software (OGGs possible).

So these are my tests with the plugin up to now.
I'll let you know if I stumble on something else that might be of interest. Again, thank you VERY VERY much for this helpful piece of software!
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ghisler(Author)
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Post by *ghisler(Author) »

Most interesting: MP3s copied on the player via the filesys plugin don't get indexed in the player's (hidden + normally automatic) database. They don't show up in the player's menus, so they can't be played.
That's very strange. Here is what I noticed with my Sansa player:
1. mp3s placed in the player's root do NOT show up
2. mp3s placed in the structure where Windows Media Player places them do show up - when I unplug my player, I get a notification that the player is re-building its index
3. mp2 files renamed to mp3 do NOT show up on the player, probably because it doesn't understand them.

Maybe you have the directory or file type problem? If not, I will research the API for a "force re-build" command...
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